Tomb Raider Underworld Walkthrough & Strategy Guide

IGN will be using some terms commonly employed in our previous Prince
of Persia guides. Each architectural element will serve as both noun
and a verb. When used as a verb, IGN's telling you to do all pertinent
actions for that element.

Lara Croft may not be a skilled traceur since she's a big fat
British archaeologist-scientician, but her atheletic skills are helpful.
Moving quickly from one place to another is beneficial for Lara, since
many of the traps and secrets are only available for a brief moment before
something happens (usually resulting in death). Therefore, you (playing
Lara's controller) need to familiarize yourself with the various elements
in the game, so you can react instantly when you see it come on screen.

Element 1 - Ledges

The ubiquitous ledge is on every wall you want to climb or somehow interact
with. Ledges can collapse, much like any other element, if it's been trapped
by Crystal Dynamics. Fast move is possible on poles, bars, and especially
ledges, when you need the extra speed to avoid death. Ledges come in two
types -- the hang ledge, which is one way down, or normal, which lets Lara
move in all four directions (up, down, left, right).

Ledges are the catch all of the game, allowing Lara to move around places
where the floor is broken, missing, or too rough to continue. Lara can stand
on ledges in Underworld, provided they are wide enough to fit her twin talents,
and a ledge stand is now the sole way for Lara to change directions in her cliff scaling.

Additionally, there are two forms of ledges (excluding the crumbling
ones). Ledges with footing (above left) and ledges without footing (above
right). Ledges with footing allow Lara to ledge jump, while those without
only allow for mantling onto (if the ledge is even with flat ground). Beware
ledges without footing will restrict movement along the ledge itself or
straight down. If the surface a ledge is built into is rough, do not expect
Lara to have good footing.

Element 2 - Ladders

Ladders are for vertical movement, but in Tomb Raider Underworld,
CD takes Lara and lets her move left and right on it via jumping to other
pipes or ladders as well. Keep that in mind when looking for a way onward.
Ladders cannot be swapped sides like in Prince of Persia but there's
no need to during the game. Fast move is only possible going up on a ladder,
and you can always just drop off a ladder if you want.

Ladders are like ledges, but they are climbable withouth any other assistance.
Lara can jump to the sides or away from the ladder like a ledge with footrest,
but she will not turn to look away. Instead, Lara simply presses jump to
transfer away from a ladder (unlike a ledge).

Ladders are often rare and a secured path up and down a great vertical
displacement. If Lara falls from a ladder, expect to paint the point of
impact with a lot of Heinz 57. Think of it as the British Airways method
of wishing you happy landings.

Element 3 - Bars

Bars are horizontal elements, but serve mostly as pieces where Lara
can swing on and vault off, like a gymnast. Bars in succession are used
to traverse gaps, while longer bars may occasionally bend and allow travel
around corners and such.

Bars are tricky elements, since they can be set in a way that Lara cannot
reach a bar she swung off of. The momentum from a bar swing is fairly powerful
and brings her really quickly across gaps. Lara has near perfect
grip with bars and can instantly jump swing to the next bar or element
provided it's safe.

In Underworld, Lara has the ability to mantle onto bars and balance on them like
the balance beams. While she can still swing on them, bars are now treated as swing-able
beams when you have her stand on them. You will need to stand on those bars to get the
extra height needed for some jumps.

Element 4 - Rope and Grappler Wire

Ropes are the grapple wire in Underworld -- Lara can hang and swing from the wire-rope.
There are no ropes in Underworld, but their element is retained in the grappler wire.
Lara may hold ACTION to ascend and descend the length of the rope (this shortens and lengthens her wire),
or without ACTION, push forward and back to swing on the rope to cross
gaps.

Lara needs to make her own "rope" by attaching the grappler to anchor rings in stages. In Underworld the wire can wrap around objects without breaking (this was not the case in the previous games).
By wrapping the wire around objects and then shortening her grappler wire (by pressing ACTIOn to shorten it), she can move objects off precarious ledges. This unique property of the wire now lets Lara grapple rings around corners so she can climb up and down with rope assistance.

An anchor point will appear if it is in front of Lara and an icon will
appear on the screen. To latch on, simply press the grappler key. Lara will no longer stop her grapple if she hits a solid mass while swinging.
While on ropes, Lara can lengthen or shorten her rope, as well as swing on the
rope either near a wall or away from it. Ropes are like columns, but allow
a greater amount of lateral movement.

Element 5 - Poles and Columns

There is only one type of pipe or pole in Underworld. The self-standing column is pretty much a strip-bar pole -- Lara can rotate around it and jump off in the direction her back is facing.
Columns and poles sometimes combine with other elements (chiefly the
spire-jump). Much like before, you are near blind when column jumping,
so even Lara's image and aim her butt to connect to the destination's butt
so no one's butt gets splattered across the cold, hard ground.

Some columns have a spire-jump atop. Lara sometimes can use ramps (not
shown), bars, or ledges to transfer from a column to spire-jump. Columns
are sometimes shrouded by rubble at the bottom, forcing some ingenious
solutions to reach the climbable portion of this element.

Element 6 - Spire Jump

A spire-jump is a small interim platform for Lara to move from one part
of the ground to another. Spire-jumps are dangerous in time trials and
in places where time is of the essence.

Each time Lara lands on a spire-jump, she has a chance of falling --
press the interaction button to keep her on balance. Only if her balance
is sated will Lara respond to a jump. Falling from a spire-jump often results
in death, although some are placed over deep (not bottomless) pits.

Element 7 - Rubble Wall

This is a new element, made so Lara Croft can challenge Altair Ibn-what's-his-face (Desmond Miles or الطائر ابن لا أحد) from Assassin's Creed on the New American Gladiators Wall Challenge. Essentially, these are protruding rocks, ivy, or other scale-able surfaces Lara can interact with and climb.

When climbing rubble walls (or ivy), Lara can shortcut between patches of the stuff by a well-aimed (not timed) jump. Pointing her the wrong direction generally results in death. When there is no recognizable way forward, see if there is a rubble wall or ivy you can have Lara interact with.

Element 8 - Smooth Vertical Wall

This is an old element, but Lara can interact with it differently now. Her wall kick jump (chimney jump) lets her scale (reasonably) a narrow chute of rock or structure to get to the top. If you played a lot of Prince of Persia or Ninja Gaiden, you pretty much have to fear Ninja Lara now.

Press the JUMP button repeatedly to get her moving. Note she can only go up (not down) using this move. Additionally, some forward momentum is required, or Lara does not have the impulse to start her action.